Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will cut straight to the chase. The terms of reference of this tribunal of inquiry are too tight. This is not coming from me; it is coming from those present in the Gallery who have lobbied on this issue.

I ask the Government to accept the Sinn Féin amendment. I listened to previous speakers. I will stick to the issue of chemical abuse in the Defence Forces because I want to give a synopsis of what those affected by this have gone through. This is only one side of it. These are not my words; they come from the Air Corps Chemical Abuse Survivors group. There have been 61 untimely deaths since President Michael D. Higgins assumed the role of supreme commander of the Defence Forces. There have been 48 untimely deaths since protected disclosure was made to the then Minister, Deputy Coveney, in 2015. There have been 41 untimely deaths since a further protected disclosure was made to Vice Admiral Mark Mellett in 2016. There have been 35 untimely deaths since the further protected disclosure was made to various senior former and current Members of the Houses, including Mr. Enda Kenny, the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, the Ministers for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and Justice, Deputies Coveney, Harris and McEntee, Deputy Kehoe, Senator Regina Doherty, Mr. Michael Noonan, the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, Senator Lisa Chambers, the Ceann Comhairle, Deputy Ó Fearghaíl and Senators Michael McDowell and Gerard Craughwell. There have been 33 untimely deaths since the Tánaiste met six survivors back in June 2007, when he was fully briefed on the prevalent illnesses, untimely deaths and the demands of the survivors. There have been 32 further untimely deaths since the further protected disclosure was made to Deputy Kehoe, listing 56 untimely deaths at the time. The total number of untimely deaths now stands at 105.

That is just one synopsis. A previous speaker referred to Lariam and so on. We have dealt with people in respect of suicides within the Defence Forces as well. I understand from where they are coming. It is impossible to make a complaint. We have seen it with the protected disclosures. We changed the protected disclosure legislation in the previous Dáil term. I welcome that change. We need to strengthen this tribunal. We need the terms of reference to be wide open. We cannot narrow them.

These people need every angle to tell their truth.

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